Pilots stay on course at Seawork

The new flight display feature for the Saab Seaeye Falcon ROV keeps the pilot informed as to compass and depth, vehicle pitch and roll, camera tilt angle, umbilical turns counter, and time and date. It can also display editable user messages and system menus. By fitting additional sensors to the ROV, odometer and CP, readouts are also available.

The feature has been migrated from Saab Seaeye’s larger ROV systems and comes as the company continues to improve the man/machine interface across all ROVs in its range, ready to leave the pilot free to focus on the operational task in hand.m And there is good news for or existing Falcon users, the upgrade to the new flight feature is as simple as swapping a PCB card.

With over 200 Falcons sold worldwide so far, the compact and portable ROVs’ popularity comes from the easy to handle size, powerful thrusters and ready customisation for many different tasks across a variety of sectors. Tooling can be added or changed simply by bolting on an under-slung module.

Ease of customisation comes from a distributed intelligence control system that allows up to 128 devices to be connected together on a single RS 485 serial network. This senses whatever systems are fitted to the ROV, much like a USB port, and makes fault diagnostics easier.

The Falcon has been adopted for many different tasks across the world. It has been sent down tunnels for mapping and inspection, under the Baltic ice for search and rescue, and into the southern sector of the North Sea for diver support.

It can collect the most delicate coral samples and archaeological specimens or cut through 16mm of high tensile steel wire. Being light to handle, it is easy to deploy, even in hostile environmental conditions and can hold steady in strong cross currents whilst undertaking a variety of tasks.